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Claudia Caicedo-Perez
Amanda Lockhart
Digital Libraries 17:610:553
Term Project: Public School Digital Library Design
November 30, 2015
Table of Contents
Abstract
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Purpose
4
Mission Statement
5
Objectives
6
Description
6
Content/Organization
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a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
Homepage
Online Catalog and Searching
Popular Books
Diverse Books
Current Events and Topics
Student Resources
Teacher Resources
Parent Resources
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8
8
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10
11
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Costs
12
Preservation
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Access
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Evaluation
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Abstract:
As the use of digital libraries and digitization of materials are on the
rise, it becomes somewhat of a struggle and a challenging game of "catch
up" for public schools to remain updated with digital content. Due to budget
cut and restraints, many public schools have their hands tied when it comes
to budgets, purchasing technology, and gaining access to online websites
and databases for their students. Most of the time, a school will need to
decide between updating technology and supplies for students. Money for
media centers is usually the last to me allocated, but the first to be cut when
additional money is needed in other areas. For this reason, many libraries in
urban areas don’t have updated materials and technology. A digital library
for public school students, teachers, and additional staff members would
allow easier access to materials and information needed to maintain and
improve student success and achievement. In addition, digital content
would save money because the occurrence of loss and damage to materials
would be practically none in comparison to physical books.
Public schools are required to align their instruction to the Common
Core Standards which also include technology skills. The creation of a digital
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library could address some of those standards. Our digital library will be an
effective tool which students can use to search for books, explore news and
interesting topics, and learn new skills and knowledge.
Title: Rutgers Elementary School Digital Library Design
Sample Digital Library Design:
http://all142.wix.com/library (Here is a basic model of what we would like
our digital library to look like. There would be more drop down links but you
are able to see a working model of our library).
Purpose:
Our term project is a public school digital library design for use in an
Elementary and/or Middle School (K-8) setting specifically in an urban school
district. We currently work in the urban school districts of New Brunswick
and Jersey City Public Schools. We have found that our school libraries do
not utilize digital libraries or even have websites that could possibly
resemble a digital library. In New Brunswick, the population is
predominately Hispanic, approximately 83% according to the 2013-2014
school year statistics from New Jersey department of education, with 48% of
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Spanish speaking students and about 89% of the total population receiving
free and/or reduced lunch. In Jersey City, the population is distributed
heavily between Hispanic (39%), African American (32%), and Asian (20%)
according to the 2014-2015 school year enrollment data from the New
Jersey Department of Education. About 80% of the total student population
receives free and/or reduced lunch.
Although New Brunswick and Jersey City are funded more heavily than
other school districts, there is currently no digital libraries created for
student and teacher access. Digital libraries in schools would allow students
to be more proactive in technological skills by allowing them to be
independent information seekers who can search for useful and reliable
information from various sources such as databases, indexes, and something
as simple as using an online card catalog. The creation of a digital library
could help improve literacy rates and improve instruction in the classroom.
Mission Statement:
Our mission as the Rutgers Elementary School is to empower all
children to become successful lifelong learners and responsible citizens who
are continually challenged creatively and academically by rigorous
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technological standards, engaging and encouraging students to explore
various diverse cultures.
Objective:
While following the 21st Century Curriculum Standards our objective is
to increase digital use and awareness in our students in order to prepare
them to be lifelong learners in a digital world. The 21st Century Life and
Career standards (http://www.state.nj.us/education/aps/cccs/career/ ),
enable students to acquire the skills necessary and prepare them to become
intellectual citizens who are challenged to make informed decisions in a
global society. These standards are implemented across the curriculum for
grades Kindergarten through grade twelve. At their cores, these standards
assist in the transformation of today’s education by setting guidelines for
students, educators, and leaders.
Description:
Rutgers Elementary School Digital Library was designed with a specific
focus on students in grades Kindergarten through eighth grade. Our digital
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library will allow students to browse and search for books. In addition, older
students in the upper elementary and middle school level will be able to
search for articles on various databases and indexes. Also included on our
digital library will be assorted resources such as links to popular book titles,
a section for diverse books, current news information such as the election,
where students can look for books, and a resource section for teachers and
parents. This section will aim to give both parents and teachers an array of
resources that can further assist students.
The content will be discussed further into the project but for the
catalog, we would incorporate basic search terms such as keyword, subject,
and author with visuals for younger elementary students.
The digital library
would be designed to be user friendly by teachers, administrators, school
staff, and students. We would like our digital library to resemble something
similar to a local public libraries but will be specially designed for school age
children. We want to ensure that our digital library is visually attractive and
user friendly.
Content/Organization:
A. Home Page - The home page will be an outline of our digital library
with designated sections as to where students and faculty can explore.
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It should be user friendly for all grades Kindergarten through eighth
grade and for faculty and staff as well. There will be links to various
pages that students can click on to find more information (see model
design above). The online catalog will be available from the home
page so both students and teachers can access materials within the
school district. There will be links to web pages for each category
listed below.
B. Online Catalog - Our digital library would have the basic
fundamentals as other digital libraries, for example an online catalog
with simple and basic search terms. For younger grade levels,
pictures would accompany above the search term. A sample of this is
shown in our model digital library. Simple search terms would include
keyword where students can browse any topic, name, or word to
describe the book, author, and title. Our library would be visually
appealing and very colorful to keep students engaged while remaining
proactive when searching. For the upper elementary grades and
middle grades, we would like to introduce the students to begin
utilizing Boolean search terms such as and, or, and not. This is a skill
that could be taught specifically by the media specialist during library
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time. This will allow students to learn and practice significant
searching techniques and improve basic library skills.
C. Popular Books Page - The popular books web page would essentially
have lists and videos of the most read or "checked out" books in the
library. This section of our digital library would be divided into
separate links, specifically for the most read authors, series, and books
in general. To extend this page, we would add in any new books that
we feel students would benefit from reading with book trailers for the
students to watch and explore.
D. Diverse Books Page - We believe that diversity is an extremely
important section to incorporate into a digital library for children,
especially since we work in immensely diverse school districts.
It’s
important for children to understand diversity and we feel this could be
emphasised through our digital library. The diverse books page would
provide students with essential information on diversity in the form of
resources for readers and writers. In addition, we’d have links to
where they could find diverse books, as well as an array of book titles
with descriptions that they could find interesting.
Using the online
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catalog, students can browse for books on diversity by utilizing the
topic search option.
E. Current Events and Topics - This page would be somewhat of an
informational page where students can browse through current events,
topics, and issues that would be relevant to their life. We would
update this section frequently enough to keep it current. For example,
for the month of November we would focus on government and
election topics where kids would read user friendly and age
appropriate information about the election.
F. Student Resources - This page would address student’s needs in
reference to their schooling. Here they can find online tutoring
through the use of basic skills and additional practice work sheets for
skills in Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies. For the
students in the lower elementary level, there would be appropriate
resources for them such as practice with letters, numbers, and
phonics. We would make sure that our content was geared toward the
Common Core Curriculum Standards.
G. Teacher Resources - We would want our digital library to additionally
be available to teachers as a resource for them to share information
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and lessons with other teachers. Teachers may use this section of the
digital library to add new/relevant book titles, important
school/classroom news, and supply homework help for students.
Resources would include links to pertinent educational information and
professional development. In addition, links to other teacher
resources like lesson plans would be available.
Some examples of
links would include the following:
a. National Technology Information Standards: http://www.iste.org/standards/iste-standards
b. The American Library Association: www.ALA.org
c. The International Reading Association: www.literacyworldwide.org/
d. The Common Core: http://www.corestandards.org/
e. Discovery Education: https://www.discoveryeducation.com/teachers/
f.
National Archives: http://www.archives.gov/education/
g. The Collaborative learning Project: http://www.collaborativelearning.org/
H. Parent Resources - It is imperative that parents stay proactive and
knowledgeable with their child’s schooling. For this reason, We believe
a parent resources section is necessary. In general, parents can use
the digital library to help their child find books or be aware of what
books are out there that they can read with or to their child. A
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separate section for parents would have school information, the
district’s curriculum, parent information on how to help their children
with assignments and homework, and how to help their students
conduct research. Some examples of links would include the
following:
a. The Common Core: http://www.corestandards.org/
b. Discovery Education: https://www.discoveryeducation.com/parents/
c. National Archives: http://www.archives.gov/education/
d. NJ Department of Education: http://www2.ed.gov/parents/landing.jhtml
e. PBS Parents: http://www.pbs.org/parents/
f. The Parent Toolkit: http://www.parenttoolkit.com/
g. Dreambox Learning: http://www.dreambox.com/parent-resources
Cost:
A base set up fee would incorporate creation and roll out of the digital
library. In addition, licenses for books and other resources based on district
needs and wants.
After this initial cost, a small maintenance fee would be
charged per year in addition to the cost of any new materials (books,
articles, magazines, online subscriptions). Since this is a district wide
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website, it would be turned over to the district to be maintained and up
kept. Therefore, cost of maintenance and upkeep would vary on districts
needs. Year to year budgets would be based on enrollment and title 1
needs. However, a goal of at least $2000 per academic year in order to
purchase new and diverse books.
Preservation:
Since this is a district digital library, keeping materials up to date would rest
on the district wide IT person in charge of maintaining it. Building wide
librarians could also manage updating information and distributing funds for
updates.
Access:
Access would be restricted to current district students and teaching
staff. User would use their student Identification Number as an identifying
source and a user created password upon initial sign-in. For younger
students, a user name and password would be assigned to each individual.
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Evaluation:
After initial set-up of digital library, a group of students, staff, parents,
and administrators would be asked to review site for evaluation on key
criteria such as user friendliness, ease of use, quality of resources available.
A separate evaluation on quality and quantity of materials (i.e books) would
be done.
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